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The American Promiseappeals to all types of students and provides the right resources and tools to support any classroom environment. A clear political framework supports a vibrant social and cultural story that embraces the voices of hundreds of Americans from presidents to pipefitters and sharecroppers to suffragettes who help students connect with history and grasp important concepts. Now in its fifth edition, The American Promisedoes even more to increase historical analysis skills and facilitate active learning, and its robust array of multimedia supplements make it the perfect choice for traditional face-to-face classrooms, hybrid courses, and distance learning.

JAMES L. ROARKBorn in Eunice, Louisiana, and raised in the West, James L. Roark received his B.A. from the University of California, Davis, and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. His dissertation won the Allan Nevins Prize. Since 1983, he has taught at Emory University, where he is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of American History. In 1993, he received the Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award, and in 2001–2002 he was Pitt Professor of American Institutions at Cambridge University. He has written Masters without Slaves: Southern Planters in the Civil War and Reconstruction (1977). With Michael P. Johnson, he is author of Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old South (1984) and editor of No Chariot Let Down: Charleston’s Free People of Color on the Eve of the Civil War (1984). MICHAEL P. JOHNSONBorn and raised in Ponca City, Oklahoma, Michael P. Johnson studied at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he received a B.A., and at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, where he earned his Ph.D. He is currently professor of history at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He is the author, co-author, or editor of six books, including Reading the American Past, the documents reader designed to accompany The American Promise. His research has been honored with fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanties, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavoral Sciences, and the Huntington Library, and with prizes from the Organization of American Historians and the Omohundro Insttute of Early American History and Culture. He is also the recipient of university prizes for outstanding undergraduate teaching. PATRICIA CLINE COHENBorn in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and raised in Palo Alto, California, Patricia Cline Cohen earned a B.A. at the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1976, she joined the history faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 2005–2006 she received the university’s Distinguished Teaching Award. Cohen has written A Calculating People: The Spread of Numeracy in Early America (1982; reissued 1999) and The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth-Century New York (1998). She is coauthor of The Flash Press: Sporting Male Weeklies in 1840s New York (2008). In 2001–2002 she was the Distinguished Senior Mellon Fellow at the American Antiquarian Society. SARAH STAGE Sarah Stage was born in Davenport, Iowa, and received a B.A. from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University. She has taught U.S. history for more than twenty-five years at Williams College and the University of California, Riverside. Currently she is professor of Women’s Studies at Arizona State University at the West campus in Phoenix. Her books include Female Complaints: Lydia Pinkham and the Business of Women’s Medicine (1979) and Rethinking Home Economics: Women and the History of a Profession (1997). She recently returned from China where she had an appointment as visiting scholar at Peking University and Sichuan University. SUSAN M. HARTMANNSusan M. Hartmann received her B.A. from Washington University and her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. A specialist in modern U.S. history and women’s history, she has published many articles and four books: Truman and the 80th Congress (1971); The Home Front and Beyond: American Women in the 1940s (1982); From Margin to Mainstream: American Women and Politics since 1960 (1989); and The Other Feminists: Activists in the Liberal Establishment (1998). She is currently Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor of History at Ohio State University and recently was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

1. Ancient America, Before 1492

Archaeology and History The First Americans African and Asian Origins Paleo-Indian Hunters Archaic Hunters and Gatherers Great Plains Bison Hunters Great Basin Cultures Pacific Coast Cultures Eastern Woodland Cultures HISTORICAL QUESTION: "Who Were the First Americans?" Agricultural Settlements and Chiefdoms Southwestern Cultures Woodland Burial Mounds and Chiefdoms VISUALIZING HISTORY: "Daily Life in Chaco Canyon"Native Americans in the 1490s Eastern and Great Plains Peoples Southwestern and Western Peoples Cultural SimilaritiesThe Mexica: A Mesoamerican CultureConclusion: The World of Ancient Americans 2. Europeans Encounter the New World, 1492-1600Europe in the Age of Exploration Mediterranean Trade and European Expansion A Century of Portuguese ExplorationA Surprising New World in the Western Atlantic The Explorations of Columbus The Geographic Revolution and the Columbian ExchangeSpanish Exploration and Conquest The Conquest of Mexico The Search for Other Mexicos Spanish Outposts in Florida and New Mexico New Spain in the Sixteenth Century The Toll of Spanish Conquest and ColonizationVISUALIZING HISTORY: "Weapons of Conquest"DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Justifying Conquest"SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Spreading Christianity in New Spain"The New World and Sixteenth-Century Europe The Protestant Reformation and the Spanish Response Europe and The Spanish ExampleConclusion: The promise of the new world for europeans 3. The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 1601-1700An English Colony on Chesapeake Bay The Fragile Jamestown Settlement Cooperation and Conflict between Natives and Newcomers From Private Company to Royal GovernmentA Tobacco Society Tobacco Agriculture A Servant Labor System The Rigors of Servitude Cultivating Land and FaithBEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "American Tobacco and European Consumers"SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "The Gamble of Indentured Servitude"Hierarchy and Inequality in the Chesapeake Social and Economic Polarization Government Policies and Political Conflict Bacon's RebellionHISTORICAL QUESTION: "Why Did English Colonists Consider Themselves Superior to Indians and Africans?"Toward a Slave Labor System Religion and Revolt in the Spanish Borderland The West Indies: Sugar and Slavery Carolina: A West Indian Frontier Slave Labor Emerges in the ChesapeakeConclusion: The Growth of English Colonies Based on Export Crops and Slave Labor 4. The Northern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 1601-1700Puritans and the Settlement of New England Puritan Origins: The English Reformation The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony The Founding of Massachusetts Bay ColonyThe Evolution of New England Society Church, Covenant, and Conformity Government by Puritans for Puritanism The Splintering of Puritanism Religious Controversies and Economic ChangesVISUALIZING HISTORY: "Seats of Power"DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Hunting Witches in Salem, Massachusetts"The Founding of the Middle Colonies From New Netherland to New York New Jersey and Pennsylvania Toleration and Diversity in PennsylvaniaThe Colonies and the English Empire Royal Regulation of Colonial Trade King Philip's War and the Consolidation of Royal AuthorityBEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "New France and the Indians: The English Colonies' Northern Borderlands"Conclusion: An English Model of Colonization in North America 5. Colonial America in the Eighteenth Century, 1701-1770A Growing Population and Expanding Economy in British North AmericaNew England: From Puritan Settlers to Yankee Traders Natural Increase and Land Distribution Farms, Fish, and Atlantic TradeThe Middle Colonies: Immigrants, Wheat, and Work German and Scots-Irish Immigrants "God Gives All Things to Industry": Urban and Rural LaborSEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "A Sailor's Life in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World"The Southern Colonies: Land of Slavery The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Growth of Slavery Slave Labor and African American Culture Tobacco, Rice, and ProsperityUnifying Experiences Commerce and Consumption Religion, Enlightenment, and Revival Trade and Conflict in the North American Borderlands Colonial Politics in the British EmpireDOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Spanish Priests Report on California Missions"Conclusion: The Dual Identity of British North American Colonists 6. The British Empire and the Colonial Crisis, 1754-1775The Seven Years' War, 1754-1763 French-British Rivalry in the Ohio Country The Albany Congress The War and Its Consequences Pontiac's Rebellion and the Proclamation of 1763VISUALIZING HISTORY: "Cultural Cross-Dressing in Eighteenth-Century Portraits"The Sugar and Stamp Acts, 1763-1765 Grenville's Sugar Act The Stamp Act Resistance Strategies and Crowd Politics Liberty and PropertySEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Pursuing Liberty, Protesting Tyranny"The Townshend Acts and Economic Retaliation, 1767-1770 The Townshend Duties Nonconsumption and the Daughters of Liberty Military Occupation and "Massacre" in BostonThe Destruction of the Tea and the Coercive Acts, 1770-1774 The Calm before the Storm Tea in Boston Harbor The Coercive Acts Beyond Boston: Rural New England The First Continental CongressDomestic Insurrections, 1774-1775 Lexington and Concord Rebelling against SlaveryConclusion: The Long Road to Revolution 7. The War for America, 1775-1783The Second Continental Congress Assuming Political and Military Authority Pursuing Both War and Peace Thomas Paine, Abigail Adams, and the Case for Independence The Declaration of IndependenceThe First Year of War, 1775-1776 The American Military Forces The British Strategy Quebec, New York, and New JerseyThe Home Front Patriotism at the Local Level The Loyalists Who Is a Traitor? Prisoners of War Financial Instability and CorruptionDOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Families Divide over the Revolution"The Campaigns of 1777-1779: The North and West Burgoyne's Army and the Battle of Saratoga The War in the West: Indian Country The French AllianceThe Southern Strategy and the End of the War Georgia and South Carolina Treason and Guerrilla Warfare Surrender at Yorktown The Losers and the WinnersBEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "European Nations and the Peace of Paris, 1783"Conclusion: Why the British Lost 8. Building a Republic, 1775-1789The Articles of Confederation Congress and Confederation The Problem of Western Lands Running the New GovernmentThe Sovereign States The State Constitutions Who Are "the People"? Equality and SlaverySEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "A Slave Sues for Her Freedom"The Confederation's Problems The War Debt and the Newburgh Conspiracy The Treaty of Fort Stanwix Land Ordinances and the Northwest Territory The Requisition of 1785 and Shays's Rebellion, 1786-1787The United States Constitution From Annapolis to Philadelphia The Virginia and New Jersey Plans Democracy versus RepublicanismRatification of the Constitution The Federalists The Antifederalists The Big Holdouts: Virginia and New YorkHISTORICAL QUESTION: "Was the New United States a Christian Country?"Conclusion: The "Republican Remedy" 9. The New Nation Takes Form, 1789-1800The Search for Stability Washington Inaugurates the Government The Bill of Rights The Republican Wife and MotherHISTORICAL QUESTION: "How Did America's First Congress Address the Question of Slavery?"Hamilton's Economic Policies Agriculture, Transportation, and Banking The Public Debt and Taxes The First Bank of the United States and the Report on Manufactures The Whiskey RebellionConflicts on America's Borders and Beyond Creeks in the Southwest Ohio Indians in the Northwest France and Britain The Haitian RevolutionBEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "France, Britain, and Woman's Rights in the 1790s"Federalists and Republicans The Election of 1796 The XYZ Affair The Alien and Sedition ActsDOCUMETING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "The Crisis of 1798: Sedition"Conclusion: Parties Nonetheless 10. Republicans in Power, 1800-1824Jefferson's Presidency Turbulent Times: Election and Rebellion The Jeffersonian Vision of Republican Simplicity Dangers Overseas: The Barbary WarsOpportunities and Challenges in the West The Louisiana Purchase The Lewis and Clark Expedition Osage and Comanche Indians VISUALIZING HISTORY: "Cultural Exchange on the Lewis and Clark Trail" Jefferson, the Madisons, and the War of 1812 Impressment and Embargo Dolley Madison and Social Politics Tecumseh and Tippecanoe The War of 1812 Washington City Burns: The British OffensiveWomen's Status in the Early Republic Women and the Law Women and Church Governance Female EducationSEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "One Woman's Quest to Provide Higher Education for Women"Monroe and Adams From Property to Democracy The Missouri Compromise The Monroe Doctrine The Election of 1824 The Adams AdministrationConclusion: Republican Simplicity Becomes Complex 11. The Expanding Republic, 1815-1840The Market Revolution Improvements in Transportation Factories, Workingwomen, and Wage Labor Bankers and Lawyers Booms and BustsDOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Mill Girls Stand Up to Factory Owners, 1834"The Spread of Democracy Popular Politics and Partisan Identity The Election of 1828 and the Character Issue Jackson's Democratic AgendaJackson Defines the Democratic Party Indian Policy and the Trail of Tears The Tariff of Abominations and Nullification The Bank War and Economic BoomCultural Shifts, Religion, and Reform The Family and Separate Spheres The Education and Training of Youths The Second Great Awakening The Temperance Movement and the Campaign for Moral Reform Organizing against SlaveryBEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "Transatlantic Abolition"Van Buren's One-Term Presidency The Politics of Slavery Elections and PanicsSEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Going Ahead or Gone to Smash: An Entrepreneur Struggles in the 1830s"Conclusion: The Age of Jackson or the Era of Reform? 12. The New West and the Free North, 1840-1860Economic and Industrial Evolution Agriculture and Land Policy Manufacturing and Mechanization Railroads: Breaking the Bonds of NatureFree Labor: Promise and Reality The Free-Labor Ideal Economic Inequality Immigrants and the Free-Labor LadderVISUALIZING HISTORY: "The Path of Progress"BEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "Global Prosperity in the 1850s"The Westward Movement Manifest Destiny Oregon and the Overland Trail The Mormon Exodus The Mexican Borderlands Expansion and the Mexican-American War The Politics of Expansion The Mexican-American War, 1846-1848 Victory in Mexico Golden CaliforniaReforming Self and Society The Pursuit of Perfection: Transcendentalists and Utopians Woman's Rights Activists Abolitionists and the American IdealConclusion: Free Labor, Free Men 13. The Slave South, 1820-1860The Growing Distinctiveness of the South Cotton Kingdom, Slave Empire The South in Black and White The Plantation EconomyDOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Defending Slavery"Masters and Mistresses in the Big House Paternalism and Male Honor The Southern Lady and Feminine VirtuesHISTORICAL QUESTION: "How Often Were Slaves Whipped?"Slaves in the Quarter Work Family and Religion Resistance and RebellionThe Plain Folk Plantation Belt Yeomen Upcountry Yeomen Poor Whites The Culture of the Plain FolkBlack and Free: On the Middle Ground Precarious Freedom Achievement despite Restrictions The Politics of Slavery The Democratization of the Political Arena Planter PowerConclusion: A Slave Society 14. The House Divided, 1846-1861The Bitter Fruits of War The Wilmot Proviso and the Expansion of Slavery The Election of 1848 Debate and CompromiseThe Sectional Balance Undone The Fugitive Slave Act Uncle Tom's Cabin The Kansas-Nebraska ActRealignment of the Party System The Old Parties: Whigs and Democrats The New Parties: Know-Nothings and Republicans The Election of 1856BEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "Filibusters: The Underside of Manifest Destiny"Freedom under Siege "Bleeding Kansas" The Dred Scott Decision Prairie Republican: Abraham Lincoln The Lincoln-Douglas DebatesSEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "A Purse of Her Own: Petitioning for the Right to Own Propert"The Union Collapses The Aftermath of John Brown's Raid Republican Victory in 1860 Secession WinterConclusion: Slavery, Free Labor, and the Failure of Political Compromise 15. The Crucible of War, 1861-1865"And the War Came" Attack on Fort Sumter The Upper South Chooses SidesThe Combatants How They Expected to Win Lincoln and Davis MobilizeBattling It Out, 1861-1862 Stalemate in the Eastern Theater Union Victories in the Western Theater The Atlantic Theater International DiplomacyUnion and Freedom From Slaves to Contraband From Contraband to Free People The War of Black LiberationSEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "The Right to Fight: Black Soldiers in the Civil War"The South at War Revolution from Above Hardship Below The Disintegration of SlaveryThe North at War The Government and the Economy Women and Work at Home and at War Politics and DissentGrinding Out Victory, 1863-1865 Vicksburg and Gettysburg Grant Takes Command The Election of 1864 The Confederacy CollapsesHISTORICAL QUESTION: "Why Did So Many Soldiers Die?"Conclusion: The Second American Revolution 16. Reconstruction, 1863-1877Wartime Reconstruction "To Bind Up the Nation's Wounds" Land and Labor The African American Quest for AutonomyDOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "The Meaning of Freedom"Presidential Reconstruction Johnson's Program of Reconciliation White Southern Resistance and Black Codes Expansion of Federal Authority and Black RightsCongressional Reconstruction The Fourteenth Amendment and Escalating Violence Radical Reconstruction and Military Rule Impeaching a President The Fifteenth Amendment and Women's DemandsThe Struggle in the South Freedmen, Yankees, and Yeomen Republican Rule White Landlords, Black SharecroppersHISTORICAL QUESTION: "What Did the Ku Klux Klan Really Want?"VISUALIZING HISTORY: "A Post-Slavery Encounter"Reconstruction Collapses Grant's Troubled Presidency Northern Resolve Withers White Supremacy Triumphs An Election and a CompromiseConclusion: "A Revolution But Half Accomplished"